


Bad Company

by mckvch (RaiseYourVoice)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Awkwardness, Bad Flirting (if you squint?), Ghosts, Hurt Raphael, M/M, Mild Blood, Movie References, References to Supernatural (TV), Supernatural Elements, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-01-27 13:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12583192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaiseYourVoice/pseuds/mckvch
Summary: It was a few turns later when Simon suddenly spotted a figure standing in the middle of the road—a woman with a white dress that reflected his headlights despite sticking to her skin from the rain. He jerked, suddenly wide awake again, and slammed his foot on the break. The car skidded over the wet asphalt, turning almost sideways and stopped only a few centimetres shy of a tree.Simon’s heart was in his throat, face feeling devoid of blood from the shock and he stared at the still moving wipers on his windshield before his body seemed to unlock and started moving again. He pushed the door open, remembering the woman that had caused him to swing off the road. Simon had no idea if he had hit the woman, everything had happened so fast.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It was supposed to be a one-shot but I didn't get it done in time so now you'll have to live with a cliffhanger and the second chapter will be uploaded...whenever I get the rest done *laughs* But this is my little contribution to the day of spoops. Also called Halloween. Happy Halloween! :D

Simon stifled a yawn behind his right hand while the left one was wrapped around the steering wheel of his beat-up car. It was the middle of the night and he was on the way home from a gig, part of him regretting that he hadn’t stayed in a hotel like the rest of his band but he had decided to drive back home right afterwards because he didn’t want to miss the weekly breakfast with his mother and sister the next morning. 

He knew both of them would call him stupid for taking the long ride back in the middle of the night, tired from the gig, instead of cancelling on their breakfast together but he couldn’t help it.

The road he had chosen to take was twisting through the woods, occasional droplets of rain hitting the windshield and his thoughts drifted off to the warm hotel bed he could have been lying in right now instead of driving through the rain in the middle of a forest, trying to keep his full attention on the road.

It was a few turns later when Simon suddenly spotted a figure standing in the middle of the road—a woman with a white dress that reflected his headlights despite sticking to her skin from the rain. He jerked, suddenly wide awake again, and slammed his foot on the break. The car skidded over the wet asphalt, turning almost sideways and stopped only a few centimetres shy of a tree.

Simon’s heart was in his throat, face feeling devoid of blood from the shock and he stared at the still moving wipers on his windshield before his body seemed to unlock and started moving again. He pushed the door open, remembering the woman that had caused him to swing off the road. Simon had no idea if he had hit the woman, everything had happened so fast.

When he entered the street, his legs still shaky from the shock and whole body trembling with it, there was absolutely no trace of the woman he had seen. She wasn’t around anymore and there was nothing to indicate there had been another person out here either.

“I must’ve imagined her,” Simon muttered to himself, rubbing a hand across his face and straightening his glasses that had almost slipped off his nose during this little accident.

“No, you most definitely didn’t imagine her,” a voice suddenly answered from behind and Simon whirled around, pressing a hand against his chest where his heart was kicking up a few more notches and felt like it was about to jump right through his ribs.

“Who—who is there?”

He scanned his surroundings and finally spotted a dark figure bleeding out of the shadows of the woods, their movements smooth and fluid as if the person was more floating than actually walking. A cold shiver ran down Simon’s spine while he watched the figure slowly stepping out onto the streets, the pale moonlight illuminating them.

Simon was honestly surprised to realise this person was a guy who didn’t seem much older than him—maybe even younger. He was the prettiest man Simon had ever seen, with a chiselled jaw, expressive eyebrows, dark eyes, full lips and carefully coiffed black curls.

If the setting had been different, Simon probably would have thought about how this guy was kind of exactly his type but considering the fact that they were pretty far from civilisation, in the middle of the woods at about 2 am, he definitely didn’t feel like admiring the stranger’s handsomeness and chose to feel rather terrified. Where did this guy come from and what did he want??

“Uhm...so...if I didn’t imagine her, where did she go?” Simon asked because, sure, why not make small talk with some weirdo showing up out of thin air in the middle of nowhere. The situation got even more bizarre when Simon realised the other was seriously wearing a suit and maybe he did have hallucination out of exhaustion. That sounded like a very plausible explanation at this point.

“Vanished,” the guy replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “She’s a spirit.”

Simon couldn’t help but bark out a nervous laugh. This guy was obviously insane, that much was sure now.

“Alright. Whatever. I have to get going but it was nice meeting you. Have fun hunting ghosts in the woods or whatever you’re up to,” Simon replied, shaking his head a little before he turned around to get back to his fortunately unharmed car. He almost expected this guy to follow him, maybe grab and maul him, but he got into his car without any of that and when he stole a glance over his shoulder to where this odd man had been standing, he was gone.

Simon frowned and reached up to rub his eyes. He definitely should have stayed with the others and not drive home right away. But now that he was already on the road for about an hour, there wasn’t exactly another option.

So he got back on the road and started driving again, this time more alert because even if he had only imagined the woman—maybe the guy as well?—he still didn’t want to risk actually running over anyone. Not an animal and certainly not a human.

It was only ten minutes later when, out of nowhere, there was a white dressed figure standing in the middle of the road again but this time Simon had enough time to slam on the breaks without drifting off the road, coming to a stop about two metres away from the woman.

“What the hell,” Simon breathed, heart in his throat for the second time this night, and he stared at the woman with wide eyes. She was wearing a rather thin looking, sleeveless white dress that was sticking to her thin frame from the rain and she was incredibly pale. Simon fumbled with the door handle before finally pushing it open, the metal creaking from the movement.

“H—hey, are you alright? What are you doing here? I could’ve run you over.” Simon stumbled over the words, feeling nervous for no apparent reason and when he took a better look at the woman, he realised that she was walking around with bare feet. He felt cold by the sight of it alone.

“I want to go home,” the woman said with a thin, almost emotionless voice and Simon had to think of the stranger’s words again—`She’s a spirit´—but he pushed that nonsense away because that was impossible and the guy had been crazy.

“I can give you a ride,” Simon offered tentatively and he didn’t feel entirely comfortable about this but he couldn’t possibly leave a sparsely dressed woman alone in the middle of the woods at night in this cold, rainy weather.

The young woman stared at him for an eerily quiet moment before the smallest hint of a smile curved her pale lips and she nodded, apparently thankful for his offer. Simon went around his car to get a blanket out of the trunk and offered it to the woman before getting back behind the wheel.

“So, where is your home?” He asked and the woman pointed down the road and Simon frowned a little but nodded and started following the road again. At least it was the direction he was heading in anyway so it wouldn’t be too much of a detour, at least.

Simon tried to start a conversation a few times but she barely said anything and so he gave up because it only made matters more awkward.

They drove in silence for about fifteen minutes and the forest didn’t seem to want to end but then the woman pointed out a smaller dirt road off to the left and told him to follow it because that was where she lived. Simon wondered who would willingly build a house in the middle of nowhere but he supposed he might find out about that in a few moments.

When they reached the end of the dirt road, the huge structure of an old style house loomed in front of them and Simon had to admit it looked kind of impressive but also scary, in a way. He stopped the car and glanced over at the young woman, shocked to see that she was crying, silent tears trailing down her pale cheeks.

“What’s going on? Why are you crying?”

The woman turned around to face him and muttered something under her breath about not being able to go back home. Simon frowned at that but before he was able to ask why that was, the woman suddenly grabbed his face and pressed her shockingly icy lips against his. He was too shocked to even react to this, feeling as frozen as the woman’s unmoving lips, and then she started climbing into his lap.

That was when Simon finally reacted again, the initial shock wearing off, and he raised his hands to push them against the woman’s thin shoulders to get some distance but she was a lot stronger than she looked and he was frustratingly unable to get away from her.

Until the driver’s door was suddenly yanked open with such force that the metal made a creaking sound of protest from the movement and then the weight of the woman suddenly just...vanished from where it had been pressing into Simon, pinning him back against the seat.

Simon opened his eyes that he had squeezed shut out of helplessness and when his vision cleared, he saw this other stranger standing in the open car door—the weird guy who had appeared out of nowhere after the almost-crash and had told him about this woman being a spirit.

“What are you—Why are you—How—Where did the woman go?”

Simon felt like he was about to get whiplash from this incredibly confusing back and forth. He couldn’t even follow what was going on and then there was this guy, staring down at him with his dark eyes that almost seemed...amused.

“She vanished again, obviously. Like I told you, she’s a spirit and you are about to get yourself killed, boy,” the guy said dryly and it didn’t sound like he cared either way but yet here he was, allegedly having saved him from being killed by some spirit. Simon wasn’t quite sure who was the crazy one here.

“You really believe that, don’t you?” Simon wondered out loud, his heart still racing from what had happened only seconds ago and the fact that the woman was absolutely nowhere to be seen was like a confirmation of what this stranger had said which was...ridiculous, to say the least. Spirits— _ ghosts _ —didn’t exist!

“I do because it’s the truth. And don’t tell me this whole ‘spirits don’t exist’ and ‘you’re crazy’ crap. If she’s not a spirit, explain to me how she disappears all the time? How was she in front of your car and then again, kilometres later? How is she easily strong enough to pin you down? You’re pretty scrawny, granted, but even you should be stronger than that.”

Simon glared at the guy for this and he wished he could think of a useful comeback but his brain was a little overwhelmed by all of this and he couldn’t come up with anything remotely witty to say.

“I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for this. One that doesn’t involve supernatural beings,” he finally huffed and glanced at the house that looked dilapidated and not at all liveable, now that he was paying proper attention to it. Nobody had lived here for years, decades even, and a chill ran down Simon’s spine while he tried to push the nonsense this stranger was telling him from his mind. He didn’t believe this stuff!

“Right. If you think so. Good luck finding that explanation,” the stranger replied and now he didn't just look amused, he sounded like he had to hold back laughter as well.

Simon frowned at the other and while part of him screamed that he should close the damn door and get away from here already, the curious side of him wanted to ask this guy some questions and at least find out what he was doing here. Maybe he actually believed in this kind of stuff, who knew?

“So,  _ if _ she actually is what you say...what are you doing here? Playing Ghostbusters?”

The guy raised his eyebrows, clearly unimpressed by the admittedly uncreative reference and heaved a long-suffering sigh. “No, but what I am actually doing is trying to prevent some poor sob from running straight into his doom. I wasn't kidding about the whole ,you could die here’ thing, you know? Even if you don’t believe me, believe that this is not a place where you want to linger.”

Simon sighed and he couldn’t exactly deny that. He shouldn’t even be here.

“Yeah, right, I should—”

He was reaching for the handle of the car door but before his fingertips could even brush it, he was suddenly shoved out of the car by...something. Simon let out a squeak before raising his arms to prevent falling on his face. He felt wetness soak through his sleeves and mud seeping into them but that was definitely the least of his concerns.

Simon barely managed to turn around on his back to look what had pushed him out of his car when something invisible grasped his ankles and yanked him towards the house, causing another scream to escape from his throat but this time it was a lot more terrified than the sound he had made before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, as you can see there was a tiny change of plans at this story will be split into three chapters. Mostly because I want to update it already and would only rush it if I did end it with the second chapter like initially 'planned'.

> Simon barely managed to turn around on his back to look what had pushed him out of his car when something invisible grasped his ankles and yanked him towards the house, causing another scream to escape from his throat but this time it was a lot more terrified than the sound he had made before.

He was almost dragged to the stairs of the house when he felt something grab the neck of his jacket and he made a small choking noise from it but he was effectively stopped from being dragged up the stairs and into the house. A piercing scream could be heard at that and Simon slapped his shaky hands over his ears to shield them from the almost painful sound.

“Do you believe me now or do you still insist that there’s a _rational explanation_ for this?” The stranger from before wondered out loud, sounding way too smug and relaxed for the shit that was going on here.

Simon dropped his hands and leant his head back a little to stare up at the guy with wide, terrified eyes. “Would you mind telling me who you are? So I know who to haunt when I end up dead here.”

The guy actually had the audacity to laugh and Simon definitely didn’t think that it was a nice sound or that he looked gorgeous when his eyes crinkled with amusement. This was definitely not the time!

“My name is Raphael. Raphael Santiago,” the other finally introduced himself and actually offered Simon his hand now to easily pull him back up to his feet as if he weighed nothing. Simon couldn’t help but notice how cold Raphael’s hand felt wrapped around his but he supposed the guy had probably been out here for a while already—playing with murderous ghosts and all.

“At least your name isn’t Winchester,” Simon muttered and then made a dismissive gesture when Raphael frowned at him, clearly not understanding the reference. “You still didn’t answer my question about what you’re doing here.”

Raphael rolled his eyes and glanced towards the building, tilting his head a little as if he was listening for something before he turned his attention back to Simon.

“I did answer it. I told you I’m trying to prevent you from getting your sorry ass killed,” he replied with a shrug as if it was the most normal thing to say. Simon wondered if the guy had some kind of hero complex.

“But why? You don’t know me, why would you try to help me?”

“Just because I don’t know you doesn’t mean I have to let you run into your own demise. I’m nice like that,” Raphael said with a wry smile and there was something in his eyes that told Simon there was more to it than that but he also felt like he shouldn’t ask about it. It wasn’t his business, after all.

“Yeah, well...thank you for that. I think I really should leave now, though,” Simon decided because he had absolutely no desire in being dragged around by the ghost lady a second time and who knew if she would patiently wait around for them to have a chat. Probably not.

“Sounds like a good idea but I doubt that’s gonna happen, now that you got her attention,” Raphael sighed and he actually didn’t seem very amused now which was honestly more worrisome than his earlier attitude had been annoying.

“So, what? You want to kill the ghost?”

“You can’t kill a spirit, idiot.” Raphael rolled his eyes at him and then he seemed to spot something because his hand shot out to curl around Simon’s upper arm, pulling him closer and Simon made a small noise of surprise when he stumbled against the other. He was about to ask what was going on when he spotted her, too—the flickering, partly translucent shape of a woman in a white dress at the top of the stairs.

Simon’s breath hitched and he felt one of those chills run down his spine at the sight of her dark, lifeless eyes that were staring at them unblinkingly. Knowing that she was actually a spirit definitely made this whole thing a lot creepier and Simon had absolutely no idea how to get out of this or how the hell Raphael could seem so chill, facing this...thing.

“And what can you do about it, then?”

“It’s possible to permanently get rid of a spirit.”

Simon breathed out a “right” and it really felt like he had ended up in some kind of supernatural movie or series because this whole situation was absolutely surreal.

“Okay, great. How?” Simon gave in because this might all be weird but either it was a damn realistic dream or actually reality and if the latter was the case it was probably good to get on board with this whole ghost thing and learn what to do about this.

“We have to figure out what she wants, what keeps her here. Or, well, we could find her body and burn it but that’s usually the uglier solution,” Raphael replied with a shrug and Simon gaped at him. He didn’t even want to think of digging up a body to burn it. No, thank you.

“I guess we can’t just figure that out by asking her?” He asked, sounding more hopeful than intended, though it was pretty obvious that the ghost probably wouldn’t tell them a way to set an end to her existence. Simon pushed his fingers through his hair when Raphael shook his head, as expected.

“We should go inside, maybe we can figure out what her deal is,” Raphael suggested after a pause and Simon blinked, wondering if he heard that correctly.

“You want to go into the house?! She tried to drag me in there, I don’t think it’ll help to go inside willingly.” His voice sounded a little higher pitched now but Simon honestly didn’t care. He really didn’t feel like going into an old, clearly haunted house just to have a look around. This sounded like an idea that would surely get them killed.

“It’s our best bet. She lived here so hopefully we will be able to find out what happened and how to stop her,” Raphael said calmly and took a step towards the rickety stairs leading up to the porch that was only partially fenced in since part of it had deteriorated over the years of neglect.

Simon shook his head and part of him wanted to stay out here but he honestly didn’t want to face the ghost by himself and it didn’t seem like getting away from here would be that easy. He hated to admit that Raphael’s suggestion sounded like the only thing that might actually help them out of this situation, even though it sounded absolutely crazy.

He couldn’t believe what he was doing when he finally sat one foot before the other, actually following Raphael up the stairs that felt like they would break underneath them any minute now. He felt shaky, surprised his knees hadn’t given in after everything so far and his eyes skimmed over the broad shoulders and slender back of the other young man while entering the porch after him.

“So, what’s the plan, oh great Ghostbuster?”

“Do you actually think you’re being funny? Newsflash, you’re not,” Raphael replied dryly and pushed against the door but it didn’t give way at all. He sighed and applied a little more pressure, causing the old wood to creak but it still didn't budge.

“Doesn’t look like that’s gonna—”

Simon was interrupted by another creaking sound followed by the snapping of metal when the lock broke and the door slammed against the wall of the house, some debris raining down from the wall and ceiling at the impact.

“How the hell did you manage that?? The door was locked.”

“Apparently, I’m Superman,” Raphael commented, grinning at Simon over his shoulder before stepping inside.

Simon still tried to wrap his mind around the fact that Raphael had just pushed open a locked door but the lock had probably been rusty and the wood was rotten, it surely wasn’t that unusual for it to have broken under the pressure.

“Sure you are,” he muttered under his breath, taking a careful step inside, their feet leaving prints in the thick layer of dust covering the floor of the house. It was dark and when Simon fumbled for something like a light switch, his fingers came up empty, except for a splinter getting stuck in the pad of his index finger, causing him to hiss in displeasure.

“You do realise that this house is too old to have electricity?” Raphael asked and suddenly his cool fingers wrapped around Simon’s hand, the other one reached for the splinter and removed it, causing him to flinch a little at the slight sting. Simon wondered how Raphael had even been able to see the tiny spike of wood in his finger because it was almost completely dark in the house. “Now, follow me.”

Raphael’s hand slipped to his wrist, fingers circling around it and tugging him forwards, oddly cold fingers pressing against Simon’s racing pulse that hitched a little bit at the unexpected contact. Again, Simon wondered why the other was so unusually cold but he didn't dwell on it for too long because there were more important matters to focus on.

“How are you even able to see in this darkness?” Simon wondered out loud after stubbing his foot against...something. Maybe a piece of furniture. _Hopefully_ a piece of furniture.

“Good eyesight,” Raphael replied easily and even though Simon couldn’t see the other’s expression, he somehow knew Raphael was smirking. “Something you probably don’t know.”

“Ha.ha.” Simon rolled his eyes before pushing his glasses a little further up his nose and then he halted in his steps when Raphael’s fingers slid from around his wrist, his heart leaping into his throat because his first thought was _danger_. Before he could even open his mouth to ask what was happening, there was the sound of a zippo being lit and then the flame of a lantern shone at least a small amount of light into the darkness of the dusty old house.

“Finally!” Simon breathed and it was surprising how much better he felt with a little bit of light. Seeing something was certainly better than padding around in the darkness without being able to see potential ghostly attackers.

“Okay, any idea what exactly we are looking for?”

Simon had already expected the answer to be a shrug but he honestly didn’t enjoy being right about that assumption. He scrunched up his nose in displeasure but bit back a comment about Raphael being a piss-poor excuse of a ghost hunter—or whatever he called himself—in order to squawk indignantly when the other young man pushed the lantern into his hand.

“You’re the one who’s blind in the dark so you take the light. Check every room down here, I go and look what I can find upstairs,” Raphael basically ordered and his tone almost made Simon comply without hesitation. Almost.

“Wait a sec...you want us to split up? You do realise that splitting up is always a guaranteed death sentence in horror movies—that and having sex, which...we won’t have and I certainly wouldn’t even want to, despite you looking the way you look and all—so, nuh-uh, no splitting up is happening here, buddy!”

Raphael stared at him with raised eyebrows and an obvious ‘are you fucking kidding me right now?!’ expression that would have been hilarious if they weren’t in a literal life or death situation here. Simon didn’t feel very much like laughing with some ghost woman wanting to end them for unknown reasons.

“Alright, now I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear at least half of what you just said and to avoid turning this into a discussion, okay, we don’t split up.” Raphael should really be more thankful that Simon kept them from making the most basic of mistakes in this situation but he had already figured that the other wasn’t particularly good at the whole _being_ _thankful_ thing. “Now, get moving and keep your trap shut or I’ll personally hand you over to our charming spirit lady.”

“Speaking of charming—you’re a real charmer as well, huh?”

Raphael glared at him and Simon raised his free hand, mimicking that he was zipping his mouth and then plastering a smile on his face for good measure. This whole situation was a disaster and never again would Simon choose driving home over staying in a hotel with the rest of his band if he lived through this night, that much was certain already.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are with the last part. This whole story is a little bit ridiculous but I guess that's my usual writing style anyway *laughs* I hope you enjoy the rest of the story and that the end isn't too lame.

> “Speaking of charming—you’re a real charmer as well, huh?”
> 
> Raphael glared at him and Simon raised his free hand, mimicking that he was zipping his mouth and then plastering a smile onto his face for good measure. This whole situation was a disaster and never again would Simon choose driving home over staying in a hotel with the rest of his band if he lived through this night, that much was certain already.

They made their way through the ground floor of the decrepit house, Simon jumping slightly whenever a floorboard creaked a little too loudly and caused him to expect the ghost woman to jump out at them but she didn’t show up, not even when they finally climbed the unsafe looking stairs to the next floor. While Simon caused the boards under his feet to creak and groan with almost every step, Raphael seemed to tread so lightly that his steps barely caused any sound at all which didn’t make any sense since he looked pretty ripped and muscles did weigh quite a bit.

Pushing away the thoughts of what muscled goodness was lying underneath Raphael’s unsuitably posh outfit, Simon huffed out a breath and cast a glance around, fingers tightly curled around the handle of the light he was still carrying. The shadows cast on the walls made him twitch nervously every now and then because every movement he saw from the corner of his eyes made him envision the ghost lady, even if it was merely his own damn shadow.

“Could you at least try to be less jumpy? It’s getting annoying,” Raphael huffed when they entered a room that could have been a bathroom a long time ago.

“Oh, I’m sorry for being a little freaked out about a damn ghost!” Simon shot back irritably. He wanted to be at home in his bed, wrapped up in warmth and sleep off the exhaustion of the gig but instead, he was walking through an abandoned house with some gorgeous douchebag while being haunted by some ghost girl. “Not everyone is chill about discovering that these things are real. Actually, nobody would be chill about that!”

“Spirits are one of the more harmless things out there. Well, not harmless but usually quite easy to take care of compared to—others,” Raphael replied easily as if he was chatting about the weather or his last trip to the groceries store.

Simon only gaped at the other young man, trying to take in the information offered to him and it was ridiculous how he hadn’t even considered what spirits being real meant. That there were other supernatural beings out there as well, not just the ghostly remains of dead humans.

“Great, now I definitely feel like I’m in an episode of Supernatural. Which I thought would feel a lot cooler and less terrifying.” He loved watching such shows and movies but he had never wished to actually be in the middle of such a scenario. This was very, very far from being cool.

“So, what else is out there, for example?” Simon heard himself ask before he could stop the question from tumbling off his tongue. “Are mermaids real?”

“That’s the first thing coming to your mind, really?” Raphael huffed and the sound was more amused than annoyed, though he clearly tried to go for the latter. “I guess they are—or were. There hasn’t been a sighting in almost a century so it’s believed they’re extinct. Also, they definitely weren’t at all like The Little Mermaid or what you might be thinking of. No half naked women with a fish-tail.”

Simon raised his eyebrows a little because it was incredibly ridiculous to hear someone talk about the existence of mermaids with so much earnestness. His brain was unable to catch up with the fact that all of this might actually be a thing, like the ghost out there.

“The fish-tail was a thing, true, but the rest...not so much. They were vicious creatures and very far from fairytale-like beauty. They were quite ugly if the few drawings I saw in my time are anywhere close to the real thing. Rows of sharp teeth, not unlike a shark's, so they could tear up every human they came across or lured into the water. Nasty beasts and not at all human,” the other young man continued his easy chatter and Simon couldn’t help but think that the world was probably better off without these nasty sounding creatures.

“How do you know about this stuff?”

The question seemed to hang between them for a few heartbeats, while Raphael was looking around the bathroom and crouching in front of the broken tub, skimming his fingers along the rim in an almost thoughtful manner. It seemed like Raphael hadn’t even heard his question but the way his shoulders had tensed up ever so slightly was proof enough for Simon that he was acutely aware of what he had been asked.

“Because I got dragged into this world against my will,” Raphael finally answered, his words barely above a whisper and Simon shivered involuntarily when the other’s dark eyes snapped up to his, revealing a hint of pain in their depths that he assumed to be nothing but only the tip of the iceberg.

“What does that—”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. The less you know about this, the better. We take care of this spirit and then you’ll get back to your life, pretend this never happened.”

There was a finality to Raphael’s voice that stirred an odd kind of reluctance in Simon. Sure, he hadn’t wanted to end up in such a surreal situation but how was he supposed to simply forget about all of this? To know that supernatural creatures were real was terrifying but also kind of thrilling and it made Simon want to know more about all of this—from a safe distance, preferably without ever encountering any of these things ever again.

“It’s madness to even consider wanting to know more about this world,” Raphael added on as if he was sensing what was going on in Simon’s mind and his expression hardened now, his eyes shining with an almost fierce determination.

“So you’re mad?” This wasn’t the time for stupid jokes but Simon had never been good at acting accordingly to the mood so his lips twitched into a helpless little grin.

“You don’t even know the half of it,” the other muttered and Simon barely caught the words, his chest suddenly feeling strangely tight because this sounded incredibly hopeless and final.

Before he was able to collect his thoughts and ask what had happened to Raphael, how he got dragged into this world and why he apparently thought to be stuck dealing with these things, Simon caught something from the corner of his eyes and he took a step back when he realised what he was looking at.

“There—there’s a noose dangling from the ceiling,” he choked out and it was a simple enough object but the implication of its existence sent an icy shiver down Simon’s spine.

Raphael’s eyes snapped from the tub up to said noose, raising to his feet again with a thoughtful hum. “I guess that means the story might be true after all.”

Simon stared at the other incredulously, trying to get Raphael to elaborate without outright asking him to do so and the young man did seem to catch the drift.

“The spirit is probably a Woman in White or  _ La Llorona _ or at least similar to it.”

“Wait, you mean this whole deal with a woman killing her children and then herself because her husband cheated on her? And then killing men who cheated as well?”

Raphael looked almost a little bit shocked about Simon’s knowledge and it took him a moment to slowly nod his head. “Basically, yes. She didn’t just kill her children, though, but probably drowned them in this very tub. Which is probably the reason she chose to kill herself in the same room.”

Simon glanced from the old tub to the noose and he refrained from trying to visualise what had happened here all those decades or centuries ago. How anyone could go as far as killing their own children—or anyone—was completely beyond him.

“So, how do we get rid of her, then?”

“We should try to get her inside the house, confront her with what she has done. Maybe the shock of the memories will be enough to force her to move on. Spirits are usually wandering the earth because there is some kind of unfinished business and the chance is high for her business is the guilt of killing her children.”

It sounded reasonable enough for something insane as ghost being a real thing and Simon nodded but then shook his head. “How the hell are we supposed to get her inside the house? Sure, she tried to drag me up the stairs but I supposed she had no intention of dragging me inside?”

“Probably not, no. We have to figure out a way to trick her into coming here, to lure her into the house.”

“I got that, thank you very much. My question is  _ how _ we’re supposed to achieve just that?? I doubt we can simply invite her in for tea.” Simon rolled his eyes and stomped down the fluttery sensation in his chest when he caught Raphael’s lips twitching in amusement.

“Maybe you could ask her nicely,” Raphael suggested with a shrug, clearly not serious about it but he did pull it off pretty well but Simon didn’t think the other was  _ that  _ crazy. “Wait here, I’ll see what I can do about her.”

Before Simon was able to object, Raphael was already walking out of the room but he came back in a second later and held out some metal stick to him. “It’s iron, works to keep spirits at a less deadly distance.”

With that, he was gone again and Simon stood in the middle of a decrepit building, in a bathroom where a mother had murdered her children before taking her own life, with an iron rod in one hand and a flickering lantern in the other. Great. He didn’t dare to leave the room, though, merely backed up against the wall because it felt a little bit safer to not have anything sneak up from behind—well, a ghost surely could, anyway, but Simon chose to ignore the whole ‘walking through walls’ deal for now—and held his breath while listening for whatever might be happening downstairs.

At first, there was just eerie quiet but it was soon broken by the piercing scream of the ghost lady and Simon jerked, ducking his head as if that would do anything to appease a crazy, murdering, dead woman. He stared at the door with wide eyes and then his feet started moving when a crashing sound travelled up to him. He was almost sure he felt the boards under his feet shake the tiniest bit.

Raphael’s voice was calling up to him, telling to  _ stay put _ and  _ don’t dare coming down here _ but Simon had never been particularly good at listening to others. Especially not when he was at least a little scared of Raphael getting himself killed because that guy was kind of his only hope to get out of this alive.

The iron rod slipped from his grasp when Simon reached the end of the stairs and took in what was happening in front of him: Raphael had just walked out of a damn hole in the wooden wall of the house, where the ghost had probably thrown him into—Simon had no idea how Raphael was standing and not in obvious pain after that—but he soon realised that it was because the other wasn’t quite human himself.

Raphael’s face was slightly twisted in anger, dark eyes glaring at the flickering figure of the just as pissed off Woman in White and Simon knew he didn’t imagine the flash of actual fangs when the other pulled his lips back to honest to God  _ hiss _ at his attacker.

Simon felt dizzy, especially when Raphael suddenly moved so quickly that he was nothing but a blur with what looked like another iron rod clasped in his hand. He swung the rod at the ghost and it went right through her from but drew another piercing scream from the woman and she disappeared like a popped soap bubble.

He was still staring at Raphael, trying to figure out what he had just seen, when suddenly he felt the temperatures drop enough to make his breath visible in front of his face. Simon’s breath hitched and his eyes widened when he turned around to see the thoroughly angry face of the spirit, now contorted into something less human—her face didn’t look pretty anymore but the sickly grey skin seemed to have partly flayed off her face, reveal the bone here and there. Simon felt frozen to the spot and his stomach flipped at the disgusting sight.

It was like in slow-motion that he watched the woman raise her hand and then thrusting it forward, burying in straight in Simon’s chest. At first, it just felt ice-cold and incredibly uncomfortable but that sensation was soon followed by the most agonising pain Simon had ever felt. It was as if her bony fingers curled tight around his heart, squeezing it in her deadly grip. Simon didn’t even realise that he was the one screaming now, his view blurring and tears of agony welling up in his eyes.

The moment seemed to last forever and only for a split second at once. One moment the ghost was in his personal space and trying to crush his heart in her hand, the next moment she wailed and disappeared into thin air with the swooshing sound of Raphael hitting her with the iron rod again.

Simon gasped and his knees buckled but Raphael managed to catch him easily, curling an arm around his hip and gingerly placing him down on the floor, back propped up against the wall.

“Stay here and try to stay alive for a few more minutes so that I can take care of this,” Raphael hissed, not the slighted bit out of breath or shaky.

Simon merely nodded his head, unable to show any other kind of reaction because he was still shaky and trying to process that he had almost gotten himself killed by a ghost a few seconds ago. And that Raphael had saved him—Raphael, who was probably some supernatural creature as well and not a regular human. If Simon had the mind for it, he would surely realise that it made a lot more sense for Raphael to not be human. The other had mentioned that he was dragged into this world against his will. There was obviously quite the story hiding beneath this statement.

Simon made a weak noise in the back of his throat when Raphael’s cold fingers pressed the just as cold iron rod back into his hand, though they both knew he wasn’t exactly in a state to actually make much use of this weapon it still made Simon feel a tiny bit safer.

Then Raphael was gone, calling out for the ghost and actually challenging it. Simon had no idea what was happening, he only heard the woman shriek and scream, more crashing sounds from upstairs and Raphael yelling. All of that went on for a few minutes before crushing silence settled over the whole place.

Simon muttered Raphael’s name and mustered up whatever strength had returned to his body after the earlier shock and almost getting killed. He pushed himself up against the wall, forcing his shaky legs to slowly climb the stairs because he wanted to know what had happened. It didn’t even matter that Raphael wasn’t human because for some reason Simon figured the other wouldn’t be dangerous to him—Raphael had helped him and save his ass, after all.

It seemed to take forever until he managed to reach the top of the stairs and dragged his feet to the open bathroom door. The tub was completely in pieces now, just like the wall behind it and there was absolutely no trace of the ghost but Raphael was there, lying amidst the broken tub and Simon spotted quite the big shard of it sticking out of the other’s side.

The breath rushed out of his lungs almost painfully and Simon dropped to his knees, barely avoiding the other shards in the process because he was preoccupied calling Raphael’s name. He dropped the iron rod in his hand, hadn’t even brought the lantern that was still on the floor downstairs but the pale moonlight was enough for him to see the amount of blood seeping from Raphael’s wound.

“Raphael!” He called out again, shaky fingers brushing helplessly over the other’s arm and torso, avoiding the terrible wound and now knowing what to do about it.

Simon almost jumped back when Raphael suddenly groaned softly and his eyes fluttered open, looking glassy and full of pain.

“You’re alive!” Simon breathed but he couldn’t be quite happy about that fact because Raphael was badly hurt and surely wouldn’t be alive for a long time with this gaping, bleeding wound in his side.

“Undead,” Raphael muttered and his lips actually curled into the faintest of smirks before he actually pushed himself up into a sitting position, causing more blood to trickle from his wound.

“Don’t move! And what do you mean—” Simon broke off with a shocked sound when Raphael honestly grabbed the big shard sticking out from his side, ripping it out of his body in one swift moment and gritting his teeth that did nothing to keep a pained groan from slipping out of his throat. “Are you crazy?!”

“No. Like I said, I’m  _ undead _ . This can’t kill me. It hurts like hell but I’ll get over it,” Raphael said through gritted teeth because he was clearly in pain and now he actually did sound breathless, though his chest was barely moving if at all.

Simon curled his hands into fists to keep himself from reaching out, wanting to press something against Raphael’s wound to stop the bleeding but it already seemed to die down quite a lot, now that the shard had been removed.

“What—what are you?” He finally dared to utter the question Raphael was clearly waiting for because he tilted his head, a regretful and almost sad expression mixing with the pain still clear in his fine shaped features.

“Come on, you’re not that dense, Simon. I’m sure you have an idea already,” the other replied almost softly, his lips curling back to reveal his perfect teeth—especially the elongated canines.

Simon gulped and his fingers spasmed against his palms, mind running a mile a minute trying to wrap around the fact that Raphael was a vampire. If Simon had ever considered vampires to be real, he had never thought them to be this much like in those stupid romance novels—at least when it came to the tantalisingly good looks and charming attitude. He supposed that was necessary to draw in their victims, though.

“So, I gotta ask this: do you sparkle in the sun?” He was aware that his voice was shaking but the fear was mixed with an odd thrill. Simon knew he should be scared, terrified even, but somehow...Raphael simply didn’t seem like a threat. It was probably all part of the package, the perfect trait of a predator to make his prey feel at ease and keep it from fleeing.

“That is the first thing you want to know? I think you must’ve hit your head quite heavily even before getting here,” Raphael huffed and shook his head in disbelieve. “And, no, I would go up in flames and burn to a crisp in the sun.”

“That sucks.”

Raphael did bark out a short laugh at that statement but the sound ended in a pained groan and he slumped back into a lying position on the floor, pressing a hand against his bloody side, even though the bleeding seemed to have stopped mostly by now.

“Are you sure you’re going to be fine? Don’t you need blood to heal or something?”

“Or something,” Raphael muttered and huffed again, lazily blinking up at Simon. “Are you offering?”

Simon opened his mouth to protest but no sound left his lips because his mind suddenly decided to go completely nuts and actually  _ consider _ it.

“No,” Raphael said before Simon could voice anything, “that is not going to happen! I’ll be fine. It takes more time to heal and get my strength back without feeding, true, but I don’t  _ need _ blood. It can wait until I’m back home.”

“And where is that, exactly?”

Raphael scrutinised him like he couldn’t believe Simon was even real—which was kind of ridiculous seeing as he was the vampire and Simon the good ol’ regular human boy.

“Would it kill or change me?” Simon was aware that this was insane, that he really shouldn’t think about actually doing this but Raphael had saved his life and if he could help the other in return…

“No but still...I don’t drink from people,” was the almost whispered reply and there was a fleeting hint of disgust on Raphael’s face.

‘ _ Because I got dragged into this world against my will. _ ’  Raphael’s earlier words echoed in Simon’s mind and suddenly he really wanted to know the story behind that statement. What had happened to Raphael?

“It would be okay, though. You saved me and I want to thank you for it.”

“By offering yourself as a human juice box?” Raphael raised his eyebrows and Simon couldn't hold back a snort of laughter.

“I guess so. I was almost killed by a ghost—where is she, by the way?—and met a real-life vampire, I might be going a little bit crazy.”

"She freaked out when we got to this room, threw me around and kind of went up in flames so I guess she's gone for good. Returning to the place where she and her children died apparently did the trick."

He stared at Raphael for a moment before shaking his head with a small sigh of relief and then offered his hand to the other that Raphael grabbed after a moment of hesitation, allowing Simon to pull him back into a sitting position.

“I’m not going to bite you but maybe you could give me a ride as thanks for saving your stupid ass,” he suggested with the smallest hint of a smile and Simon couldn’t help but mirror it.

“My ass isn’t stupid,” Simon said conversationally a few minutes later when he was supporting Raphael while they were clumsily making their way down the rickety stairs to finally get out of this house and back to Simon’s old car. His lips split into a delighted grin when all he got in return was a small choked sound from Raphael and the other’s fingers briefly digging a little harder into his side where they were holding on to him.


End file.
